Few games are more dependent on building than Minecraft. In a game where creation is so central, it makes sense to have plenty of materials to choose from when implementing your designs. When you’ve filled your world with dirt-floored homes and stone-walled buildings, then it may be time to move on to a different building material like concrete. Like any other material in the game, concrete has its own benefits and drawbacks. Better yet, it provides another exciting creative option by being available in up to 16 different colors. The unique texture of concrete blocks combined with just the right color could be exactly what you need to perfect your creations!
Creating Concrete
Time needed: 15 minutes.
To make concrete in Minecraft you need to first gather the components needed to craft concrete powder. This will require sand, gravel, and dye. Concrete may not be as simple to craft as other building materials, but it does provide some benefits for the extra effort. Concrete blocks are superior in hardness to stone and resistant to flames. These properties can change the way you strategize, especially if you do PvP. If protection or decoration aren’t what you’re seeking, perhaps musical blocks are more your taste. By stacking note blocks on top of concrete blocks and treating them with redstone dust, players can even make their inventions play a musical note!
- Make a Pickaxe
A later step in the process will leave you empty-handed unless you bring a pickaxe. To stay ahead of this issue, go ahead and make a wooden pickaxe now. Gather some wood and take it to a crafting table. Place a piece of wood into the crafting grid, and you’ll see 4 wood planks in the output slot. Take these wood planks and place 2 of them, one on top the other, to produce 4 sticks.
Now that you have these materials, place 3 sets of planks spanning the top row of the crafting grid. After that, place 2 sticks, one below the other, beneath the row of planks. Doing this correctly should provide a pickaxe. If you like more powerful tools, simply use your material of choice (i.e. iron) for the top row instead of wood planks.
- Find Sand
Each of the ingredients you’ll need is pretty simple to find, and the first you’ll need is possibly the easiest. Sand is readily available, and you’ve probably even harvested some unintentionally already. You’re going to need 4 sand, but don’t worry if you haven’t gotten any yet or need some more. Just head to the nearest body of water. These are often surrounded by sandy perimeters that will provide you with plenty of sand to mine.
If you like to work ahead, you could use this task to dig up a small stream leading to a pool of water. This will allow you to ensure you’ll have a decent place for the step that involves solidifying your concrete powder.
- Find Gravel
The next item on your list once you’ve gotten sand will be gravel. This is another item that’s relatively easy to find, although you may have an easier time getting some if you’re able to track down a cave. You also have a chance of finding gravel near the shores of bodies of water, especially a few layers below the sand. With luck and planning, you may be able to find your sand and gravel in the same place. You’ll need 4 blocks of gravel, so grab as much as you want but at least enough to make some concrete.
- Get Dye
Now that you’ve got the structural components of your project, it’s time to select the decorative portion! You’ll need 1 unit of dye to make concrete. The most straightforward and reliable way to get dye is to gather some flowers and take them to a crafting table. Place one flower anywhere in the crafting grid to create a dye in that same color. This process can be repeated until you have all the dye you need. Once you’ve chosen and made your dye, you’ll have all the pieces required to move to the next step in making concrete in Minecraft!
- Make Concrete Powder
Go to (or remain at) a crafting table for the next part. Instead of simply using the raw ingredients to directly craft concrete, you have to instead make concrete powder first. To do this, arrange 4 sand, 4 gravel, and 1 dye in the crafting grid in any arrangement. Once you’ve got these placed, you’ll be treated to 8 units of concrete powder in the color of the dye you provided. Move them to your inventory, and you’re on the cusp of crafting concrete!
- Place Concrete Powder in Water Source
Now it’s time to finish this process off and convert the concrete powder you just made into actual blocks of concrete. Find the nearest source of water you can track down. Not all water will work for this task, so make sure the choice you make is either a water source block, flowing water block, or a waterlogged block. Once you’ve tracked down the water you’re going to use, go ahead and place your concrete powder in or near the water. You’ll see it transform and take on a new texture almost instantly. After you see this, you can pull out your pickaxe to mine and collect it. If you don’t use your pickaxe, then mining it won’t yield anything and your effort will be wasted for that block. Now that you’ve done that, you have concrete!
That’s everything you need to know about making concrete in Minecraft! If you want to learn more about the game, be sure to check out the Minecraft section of our website.
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